Zou Yi, an environmentalist     1     lives in Beijing, has filmed the a quality near his home using his cellphone since 2013. For almost a decade to now, he     2     (take) more than two million photos to chronicle Beijing major environmental changes. The main purpose of taking these photos is     3     (record) the changes of Beijing’s air quality objectively every day. After two months, Zou Yi selected 64 photos he took and posted     4     (they) online. His move generated extensive discussion.

The fact that China is the first major developing country to combat PM 2.5 may sound unfamiliar to many,     5     most people have heard about the country’s action plan for preventing and controlling air pollution. China has also demonstrated firm resolve in carbon reduction and afforestation. As a result, clear skies and fresh air are returning to major     6     (city).

Days with good air quality accounted     7     87.5 percent of 2021, up 6.3. percentage points from 2015,     8    (make) China the nation with the greatest air-quality improvement worldwide.     9     number of the people who follow the daily air quality photos is     10     (probable) less than 10% of what it used to be. The less attention means that air pollution is not an issue anymore.

4 . The tons of plastic we’re dumping in the oceans is finding a new home—the stomachs of our beautiful marine animals. Yet another reminder of this fact washed ashore in Eastern Indonesia this week. A large amount of waste, including drinking cups and flip-flops, was found in the stomach of a whale that died off the coast near Kapota Island.

The 9.5-metre sperm whale (抹香鲸) was found by rescuers from the Wakatobi National Park. The whale had swallowed 5.9 kilograms of plastic waste containing 115 plastic cups, four plastic bottles, 25 plastic bags, and more than 1,000 other kinds of pieces of plastic, park chief Heri Santoso told the reporter.

“Although we have not been able to   deduce the cause of death, the facts that we see are truly awful,” said Dwi Suprapti, a marine species conservation co-ordinator at WWF Indonesia. She said it was not possible to determine if the plastic had caused the whale’s death because of the animal’s advanced state of decay (腐烂). But this is only the latest.

Four Asian nations—Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand—account for 50% of the plastic waste in the oceans, according to a report by environmental campaigner Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment. The Philippines is second to Indonesia when it comes to putting away plastic waste in the oceans, according to a study published in the journal Science in January. Of the 3.2 million mismanaged waste it produces every year, 1.29 million ends up in the ocean.

A report released earlier this year stated that the amount of plastic in the ocean is likely to increase.

5 . Imagine an area 34 times the size of Manhattan. Now imagine it covered ankle-deep in plastic waste.That’s a total of about 19 billion pounds of_______. And according to one of the best estimates available, that’s how much plastic waste_______in our oceans every year.

"We're being_______by our waste,”   said Jenna Jam beck, an/a _______engineer who led the 2015 study that announced this shocking number. According to Jambeck’s research, this_______will double by 2025 unless something is done,_______and at a global scale, to stop the tide of garbage.

Plastic has in many ways been a good help to humanity, used in all walks of _______from medical equipment to parts of airplanes. _______some of the very traits (特性)that have made plastics so popular have also made them a_______ problem in our landfills and oceans. Today， plastics are the No. 1 type of trash found in the sea. Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group that organizes a yearly________cleanup event in more than 150 countries worldwide, said plastic pieces ________around 85 percent of all the garbage collected from beaches waterways and oceans — and that’s just the stuff we can ________.

Ocean Conservancy says plastics are believed to ________at least 600 different wildlife ________. One in three leatherback turtles, which often ________plastic bags for edible(可吃的) jellyfish, have been found with plastic in their bellies. In 2017, a ________ whale beached on Norway’s coast had 30 plastic bags in its________. Ninety percent of seabirds are now eating ________on a regular basis. By 2050, that figure is expected to rise to 100 percent.

And it’s not ________ wildlife that’s threatened by the plastics in our seas. A growing body of evidence suggests humans are consuming plastics through the seafood we eat.

With this in mind，experts say that all of us have a ________role to play in relieving the issue — in ways both big and small.

6 . You've probably heard the phrase "go outside and get some fresh air" before. Breathing fresh air can make us feel more energetic．    1    ．

According to a new study from the World Health Organization （WHO）, nine out of every 10 people on the planet breathe polluted air every day．

Polluted air can get deep inside your lungs when you breathe, causing diseases like lung cancer and heart disease. Around 7 million people die every year from breathing polluted air．    2    , mainly in Asia and Africa. Among the world's 20 most polluted cities, 14 are in India．

Some of the biggest sources of air pollution include factories and vehicles. In some regions, sand and desert dust, as well as the burning of waste, also cause air pollution．

    3    . More than 40 percent of the world's population is still using woodstoves （木柴炉） or open fires to make meals and heat their homes. This creates harmful particles （颗粒） and gases indoors．

    4    . India has provided 37 million poor people with free liquified Petroleum gas （液化石油气）, while Mexico City has created cleaner vehicle standards．

Maria Neira, the WHO's head of public health, said China has set a good example to the world in improving air quality. "    5    ，" she said．

In modern India, polluting sectors continue to be important pillars of the economy. Many argue that any attempt to get rid of coal would result     1     a widespread loss of jobs.     2     (similar), much of India's commercial transport is run on diesel(柴油). The idea of replacing diesel trucks and cars with cleaner electric powered vehicles     3    (consider) too expensive. As the change from coal to natural gas would increase their operating     4     (cost), business owners fear becoming less     5     (compete) in an increasingly global market.

One of the     6     (large) contributors to air pollution in India, especially in the north of the country, is the agricultural sector. Every year, between October and November, thousands of farmers burn harvest residue(剩余物) as     7     prepare fields for the new crop. The practice,     8     (know) as stubble burning, leads to a smoky haze(雾霾) forming in much of northern India.

The government     9     (try) to encourage the use of green technology, such as so-called "Happy Seeder" machines     10     can sow seeds without having to remove the agricultural residue. However, this has proven to be expensive.

8 . New mercury threat to oceans from climate change

Rising temperatures could boost mercury levels in fish by up to seven times the current rates, said Swedish researchers in an article published in Science Journal. They’ve discovered warming increases levels of the toxin in sea creatures. In experiments, they found that extra rainfall drives up the amount of organic material flowing into the seas. This alters the food chain, adding another layer of complex organisms which boosts the concentrations of mercury up the line.

Mercury is one of the world’s most toxic metals, and according to the World Health Organization, is one of the top ten threats to public health. The substance at high levels has been linked to damage to the nervous system, paralysis and mental impairment in children.

The most common form of exposure to mercury is by eating fish containing methylmercury, an organic form of the chemical which forms when bacteria react with mercury in water, soil or plants. Levels of mercury in the world’s ecosystems have increased by between 200% and 500%, since the industrial revolution, say experts, driven up by the use of fossil fuels such as coal.

In recent years there have been concentrated efforts to limit the amount of mercury entering the environment, with an international treaty, called the Minamata Convention, signed by 136 countries in place since 2013.

Researchers hope that the Minamata treaty will be successful and countries reduce the amount of mercury that is being produced. Otherwise this discovery of a previously unknown source could have impacts for human health.

Other researchers in the field say that the new study highlights important issues that have previously been little known.

“This work experimentally proves that climate change will have a significant effect of methylmercury budgets in coastal waters and its accumulation in fish,” said Milena Horvat from the Jozef Stefan Institute in Slovenia.

“This work will also help us understand the formation of mercury in fish and help reduce mercury from emission sources (primarily industrial).”

9 . A decade-long study, also the first major research into air pollution and disease has shown that living near a main road increases the risk of dementia(痴呆). The study of 6.6 million people found that one in 10 dementia deaths in people living within 50 metres of a busy road was due to waste gas and noise. 

Air pollution is already known to contribute to the deaths of around 40,000 people in Britain each year by worsening breathing and heart conditions, while previous research showed emissions (排放物) can cause brain shrinkage. But the new study by Canadian public health scientists is the first to find a link between living close to heavy traffic and the increasing of dementia, a discovery described as "believable" and "impressive" by British experts. 

Dr Hong Chen said. "Our study suggests that busy roads could be a source of environmental stressors that could give rise to the onset of dementia. Population growth and urbanization has placed many people close to heavy traffic, and with widespread exposure to heavy traffic and growing rates of dementia, even a modest effect from near-road exposure could cause a large public health burden.  More research to understanding this link is needed, particularly into the effects of different aspects of traffic, such as air pollutants and noise."

In the new study, the team tracked all adults aged between 20 and 85 living in Ontario for more than a decade from 2001 to 2012. They used postcodes to determine how close people lived to a main road and analyzed medical records to see if they went on to develop dementia, Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis(多发性硬化). 

While there was no correlation between living near a road and Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis, dementia risk reduced as people lived further from a main road, with a 7 percent higher risk in developing dementia among those living within 50 metres; a 4 percent higher risk at 50-100 metres and a 2 percent higher risk at 101-200 metres. After 200 metres there was no increase. Researchers believe that noise of traffic may also play a role in the raised risk as well as other urban pollution, which is often present near busy roads.